What Could Be
by shondalandfan
Summary: Teddy Altman has always been in love with Owen Hunt. He has broken her heart time and time again. Can these two finally figure out how to be happy together without the tears, lies and broken hearts? Takes place in Season 14 as Teddy returns to Seattle after making an astonishing discovery. Seattle is not the same place she left 6 years ago, but can Teddy make a new life in Seattle?


**This is my first Grey's Anatomy fanfiction. I have been a fan of the show for a long time. I have always been a huge fan of Dr. Teddy Altman and after watching Owen try and fail at love so many times I think that it is only right that Teddy and Owen get a chance to make it work. This story takes place in season 14 and follows the story line. This will be a TeddyxOwen story. Please let me know what you think and if I should continue. I do not own anything. All characters belong to Shonda Rhimes. The flashback at the beginning contains quotes from 14x17 One Day Like This.**

 _Flashback- 2 months ago_

 _"Teddy Teddy, you're blowing this way out of proportion! I came here because I love you!" Owen was trying to reason with her and was having little success. He knew Teddy had a right to be upset, but she was missing the point. He was in love her and for once he could act on it. Why did it matter to her so much that it was Amelia that had pointed him to her?_

 _"You came here because your marriage is over, and you're terrified of being alone!" Teddy defended, she was so angry at him. Angry for making her believe that for once he was choosing her. She was also frustrated with herself for not being good enough for him once again._

 _"I'm not terrified." Owen interrupted, why was he the bad guy in this situation._

 _"Oh, please! You leave Beth for Cristina, and then Cristina for some random woman in a bar, and then you go back to Cristina, and then you go to Amelia to soothe your pathological need to be coupled up so that no one sees - how sad and empty you are!" she explained as she began packing his things, he didn't want him her anymore, she was tired of him playing with her emotions and she wasn't going to let him hurt her again. No not anymore._

 _"You're the one who's scared." Owen countered. Finally he was ready to be with her and she was finding an excuse to run from him_

 _"I'm not scared!" She yelled. How could he even say that? She had done a tour of duty in Bagdad, she moved to a new city at his request, her husband died, and then she went to Germany to run MedCom, leaving behind the life she had built for herself, she was anything but scared._

 _"You always have been. Deep down, you're terrified to be happy. I mean, sure, you're fine to marry the dead guy, but when you have love real love staring you in the face, you run!" Owen knew as soon as he let Henry's name leave his lips that he had made a mistake, but to him it was true. She couldn't have him, so she married a patient to fill the void._

 _"You don't ever get to talk about Henry. Do you understand me? I am not scared." At the mention of Henry's name Teddy felt her heart rate elevate. Owen had crossed a line, he had no right to bring Henry into this. Sure, she didn't love him at first, but she had developed true feelings for him and his death was still painful. A piece of her would always be in love with Henry, with the fairytale they shared, a fairytale that did not end in a happily ever after._

 _"Please, it's what you do. It's what you've always done. It's the reason you can't make a real relationship work. You'd rather burn it all to the ground than risk being hurt!" Owen fought back. He wanted to make in painfully clear that she was the one pushing him away. He wanted to make it work with her after all those years, but she was being unreasonable._

 _"Maybe because all you ever do is hurt me, Owen! You string me along for years with these half-baked declarations, and then you marry other women. And then you fly halfway across the world to my doorstep, and you convince me that this is real, that you're in this with me, that you love me, that you want me! And it has never, ever, ever been about me!" She yelled back. He was missing her point. He had never given her 100% of his heart, but she had given him hers only to see him take advantage of it and leave it shattered into a million pieces. She was done. She was not going to but up with his games anymore._

 _"I do love you! I want you." He pleaded walking towards her. He didn't know how to make her see that he was serious. Deep down he knew that he had played with her heart so many times before, but this time he was ready to be with her._

 _"And then, when you have me, when you really have me, and you have me believing that you mean it, I find out that 24 hours earlier, your ex-wife, who you just screwed, told you to! I am done being your fallback .I am done being your damn sloppy seconds. I'm not your consolation prize!" Teddy defended as her voice wavered slightly. She wanted to cry, but she had to hold it together a little longer. She refused to let him win by breaking down in front of him. She was stronger than that._

 _"Teddy, please. Please, Teddy, just look at me look at me. Please. Don't do this. You know, the snow? It wasn't for the soldiers. It was for you. I did it for you. I just knew you loved Christmas, and I, uh I just wanted, uh I did it for you." He responded calmly. He could see that she had already packed up all of his belongings and put them by the door. This was his last chance to win her over, or he would be leaving Germany empty handed._

 _"I'm done, Owen. We're done." She replied as she opened the door. She wasn't going to fall for him bringing up some grand gesture from 10 years ago in the desert. So much had changed since then, but at the same time everything was still the same. She had given him her heart only to be denied once again._

 _Tears poured down her face as she leaned against the door, finally allowing herself to breakdown after all the pain he had caused her. She knew she should have never let him in. How naïve was she think that this time would be any different? That this time he might actually be choosing her. Teddy slid down the down and put her head in her knees and let herself cry. She loved Owen so much it hurt and repeatedly he had broken her heart because he was incapable of loving her the same way. First Beth, then Cristina and then Amelia, but never her. And then when she though that he was finally choosing her, she realizes that she is just the rebound, and that hurt the most._

 _Owen walked out of Teddy's apartment and punch the wall. He was angry with himself. Angry for screwing this up. When he made the decision to come to Germany he thought that he and Teddy were finally going to be something, something that he had denied them for years. He wanted to with her after all those years he had chosen somebody else, but somehow, he had managed to mess it up. He always messes it up. There was nothing left for him in Germany, so Owen went to the airport and boarded a flight back home._

 _Present Day_

Teddy didn't know what she was doing. The last 24 hours were a blur and the next thing she knew she was touching down in Seattle. After seeing the two tiny lines appear on the pregnancy test, she grabbed a suitcase and began packing. However, the thought of going to Seattle and actually being in Seattle were two very different things. Before Teddy knew it she was standing outside of Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital with her suitcase.

She knew why she was there, but she had her doubts. Teddy brushed the uncertainty aside and walked through the front door with the intention of finding Bailey. She needed a job.

As she wandered around the hospital, she was no one she recognized. No Grey? No Robbins? No Amelia? No Hunt? No Kepner? Where was everyone? Although she questioned where all the doctors she knew were, she was relieved she didn't see anyone she recognized because she did know how she would explain her sudden appearance in Seattle.

Teddy can see nurses and doctors staring at her as she walks through the hall ways in search of someone that will know who see is.

"Dr. Bailey." Altman calls out as she sees the chief walking by with an intern.

Bailey pauses for a second. She recognizes the voice but is hesitant to believe it. What would Teddy Altman be doing here? She went back to Germany, did she? Bailey thinks as she turns around to see if Dr. Altman is truly there.

"Dr. Altman." Bailey exclaims excitedly. What are the odds that when she is in desperate need of a cardiothoracic surgeon, that one appears? And not just any cardio surgeon, one with talent she respects and trusts. "Can you scrub in?"

"Well, uh… of course." Altman responds. She certainly didn't expect to be scrubbing in on any surgeries right away but considering she didn't see anyone in the hospital she knew, she figured the chief was desperate for help.

As the two surgeons walk to the OR to scrub in Bailey catches Teddy up on why the hospital seems so empty.

"Alex getting married." Altman cannot help but stifle a laugh. "He certainly has grown up."

"Tell me about it. I remember when that boy was an intern. I wasn't sure he was going to make it in surgery. But I watched him scratch and claw for everything he has earned. He has turned out to be an excellent surgeon." Bailey admits.

After a successful surgery Bailey and Altman scrub out as they watch their patient get wheeled off to the ICU.

"What brings you back to Seattle? Is Megan ok, I thought she went off to California." Bailey says, knowing very few events would bring Teddy out from Germany.

"Oh no, Megan is fine! She is doing great." Teddy paused, asking for a job wasn't easy. She had put all her eggs into this basket, hoping that Bailey would be able to offer her something. "I would like job."

"Why?" Bailey asked. She was confused, did Teddy really come all this way to ask her for a job, she could have called.

"I am ready to come back." Altman replied, not ready to reveal her secret.

"I cannot give you your old job back. Maggie Pierce is the cardio attending, but I might have something for you, give me a little bit of time to think." Bailey replied. She was not going to pass up the opportunity to add Dr. Altman back to the surgical staff if she had the opportunity.

"I appreciate it Dr. Bailey. Let's go check on our patient." Dr. Altman said as they walked out of the scrub room.


End file.
